Transcript Dealing with Students with Anxiety

Assisting a Student
with Anxiety
PRESENTED BY SYLVIA BROWN
Know What Anxiety Is

Anxiety, whether clinically consistent or circumstantial, is a crippling
and overwhelming sense of fear, panic, and/or uneasiness.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, anxiety often
manifests through physical symptoms such as: tachycardia (racing
heartrate), nausea, shortness of breath, dizziness, and restlessness.
The Different Types of Anxiety

Panic: People experiencing panic feel an abrupt and intense onset
of extreme anxiety. This can even be mistaken for a heart attack.

Social Anxiety: This sort of anxiety is based on extreme selfconsciousness and worry about rejection or humiliation.

Generalized Anxiety: A person with Generalized Anxiety Disorder will
experience excessive worrying about seemingly insignificant issues.
Often, anxiety will manifest just from anticipating anxiety (Anxiety
and Depression Association of America).
Assisting a Person Experiencing a
Panic Attack

Recognizing the symptoms

Knowing what to do
Scenario:

A student begins confiding about their plummeting grades. They
emphasize that this essay they are revising is crucial to whether or
not they pass the class. The more the student talks about their
plummeting academic career, the faster they start breathing, the
more they start sweating, and, soon enough, they become pale.
Essentially, their body has gone into fight-flight-freeze response
mode. They are having a panic attack. What do you do first?
Calm Breathing

When a person experiences any sort of panic or anxiety, the first
system in their body to become symptomatic is their respiratory
system. Often, they hyperventilate. Rapid breathing leads to
dizziness, nausea, and even loss of consciousness, so it is most
important to prioritize calm breathing.
A calm breathing exercise:

1. Inhale through the nose, slowly and steadily. Count "oneMississippi, two-Mississippi, three-Mississippi, four-Mississippi" as the
inhalation is ongoing.

2. Once inhalation is complete, hold the breath for one or two
seconds before exhaling.

3. Slowly exhale through the mouth for the same amount of time
inhalation took.

4. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Arousing Realistic Thinking

Often, a person experiences a panic attack once the worries and
anxieties have overtaken their logical appeals. During a panic
attack, a person predominantly experience deluded thinking
regarding their physical well-being due to the actual panic attack.
"I'm having a heart attack," or "I'm going to faint" are very common
thoughts the person experiences.

The best way to combat this is reassurance and consistent breathing
techniques.
Assisting a Person with
Social/Generalized Anxiety

Assisting with any physical manifestations of anxiety

Creating objective goals
Scenario:

A student you are tutoring is very quiet and hesitant when asking for
help. When questions are asked, hardly any answers are given. You
ask the student if everything is alright, and they inform you they
have anxiety to an extent where it was a chore to come into the
tutoring center today. What different approaches do you use for this
student?
Physical Manifestations of Social
Anxiety

Often, anxiety can present itself in the same way panic appears.

Social anxiety can manifest through blushing, excessive sweating,
nausea, rapid heartrate, dizziness, etc.

The symptoms can be combatted with deep breathing, hydration,
and isolation (Anxiety and Depression Association of America).
Creating Objective Goals

Where social anxiety is prevalent, negative thoughts assist. It is
natural for a person with social anxiety to not acknowledge their
strengths, and instead, belittle their self.

Counter this thought process by having the student keep track of
their progress by creating fair, doable goals.

For example: A student has trouble with group activity because they
are too self-conscious to speak. A reasonable goal that could be set
up for the student is making three comments through out their group
activity. Remind the student feeling nervous while making these
comments is okay and does not disqualify completion of this goal
(Psych Central).
When is Anxiety an Emergency?

Anytime the person's safety is at risk, including:
1.
Loss of consciousness
2.
Hysteria
3.
Expression of intent for self-harm/suicide

If the anxiety attack has become an emergency, call campus
police, B.A.R.T., or the counseling center.
Resources to keep handy:

CSUB Public Safety: 661-654-2111

Kern County Mental Health, Crisis Unit: 661-868-8000

Good Samaritan Psychiatric Hospital: 661-398-1800
Works Cited
"Anxiety Disorders." National Institute of Mental Health. May 2015. Web.
01 Mar. 2016.
Tartakovsky, Margarita. "6 Ways to Overcome Social Anxiety." Psych
Central. Web. 02 Mar. 2016.
"Understanding the Facts." Anxiety and Depression Association of
America, ADAA. Web. 01 Mar. 2016.